As one of nonvolatile semiconductor memory devices, expectations and attention have recently been focused on a large-capacity magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM) using a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) element. In the MTJ element used for the MRAM, one of the two ferromagnetic layers that sandwich a tunnel barrier layer is set as a magnetization fixed layer (reference layer) where the direction of magnetization is fixed, and the other layer is set as a magnetization free layer (storage layer) where the direction of magnetization is made to be easily inverted. In this structure, information can be stored by associating, with binary numbers “0” and “1,” a state in which the direction of magnetization is parallel between the reference layer and the storage layer, and a state in which the direction of magnetization is opposite between them.